Question for the day: What is a genuine Christian?
What can we pray for YOU about today?
Good morning,
This is just a reminder that every day, while we are studying God’s Word to add to our website, someone from our ministry, Dysmas Conduit, is holding you up before the Lord in prayer. May He greatly bless you today as you pursue His will and He is glorified through you.
God’s blessings, our love,
George & Sidney Granger
FREE FOOD
(Isa 55:1)
Today in God’s Word
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2009
Please join your brothers and sisters
studying and praying with us today…
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR TODAY
August 5, 2009
Genuine Faith
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His mercy He saved us,
through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit”
Titus 3:5 (NKJV)
Devotion:
Today if you were to ask someone what a genuine Christian is, you might hear something like this: “They are someone who is at church every time the doors open. They serve on committees, teach Sunday school, sing in the choir, feed the hungry and pray for the needy. They never get discouraged, never doubt, but have little time for fun. They’re too busy working for the Lord.”
I think Satan has deceived us with the illusion that a busy Christian is a genuine Christian. It’s just not true.
Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying these are not good things to do, but I fear we’ve turned our walk with God into a frenzied pace by adding to our faith a lot of extra baggage that we don’t need. We need to get back to real, genuine faith.
The trouble is we are no different than the Galatians. They started with faith, but then added works as well. In Galatians 3:3, Paul asks the people this question: “Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”(NLT)
Good question. I can’t tell you how long I lived doing that same thing. I tried to live for God by my own efforts instead of allowing Him to live in and through me by faith.
Genuine faith is not about doing. It’s about believing God. It’s a relationship between us and God that begins by faith, is lived by faith, and ends in faith. It’s that simple. Everything else - such as good works - flows from the source of this relationship.
However, some Christians fall into the trap of organized religion instead of practicing simple, genuine faith. This kind of oppression is growing in our world today because nothing is simple anymore, especially our faith. We do a lot of extra stuff for all the wrong reasons, such as impressing others or trying to win God’s approval. It’s not that we shouldn’t do good deeds, but we need to ask ourselves, “Why am I doing what I’m doing, and who am I doing it for?” We just might surprise ourselves with the answer.
Life is heavy enough with the responsibilities God has given us. I’m finding that women today are burned out from trying to do it all and then feeling guilty because they can’t. I know. I was a lot like the The Little Engine That Could. Do you remember that children’s story? At some point in my life, I adopted the engine’s motto as my life’s purpose. “I think I can, I think I can…” Whenever someone asked me to do something - especially at church - I quickly responded, “I think I can!” Only to discover, I can’t do it all.
I had the same problem that plagued the Galatians. I was practicing religion instead of relationship.
Genuine faith is not a long list of performances we do to impress others. It’s about maintaining our relationship with God. This is the secret to the Christian life.
Perhaps you’ve been trying to do all the work yourself. If you and I will daily stay connected to our source, then the natural outcome will be a simple life of genuine faith.
Dear Lord, I humbly lay all my works, efforts, and life before You today. I long to pursue You. Draw me closer to You, Lord. Teach me to live by simple, genuine faith in You alone, in Jesus’ Name, amen.
Application Steps:
Cultivate your relationship with God through daily prayer; join a Bible Study; fellowship with other believers; walk in obedience to God’s Word. Finally, trust God to produce in you the fruit of His character found in Galatians 5:22.
Reflections:
Ask yourself, “Why am I doing what I’m doing and who am I doing it for?”
Are you trying to win God’s approval or impress others with your works?
Power Verses:
1 Timothy 1:19, “Holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.” (NIV)
Jeremiah 17:7, "But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” (NIV)
…and…
Back to the Bible
Woodrow Kroll and Tami Weissert
Round 5—Esther's
Round 6—
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
One man's vendetta could've meant the end of God's people;
another's hatred could've eliminated the Savior.
See how Satan's little helpers came up short when you go Back to the Bible...
Series: The Long War Against God
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Back_to_the_Bible/
GDLC Message: http://www.gdlc.org/worship/sermons.aspx
Luke 15
(New Living Translation)
LISTEN AT
http://www.audiotreasure.com/webindex.htm
Parable of the Lost Sheep
1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!3 So Jesus told them this story:4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it?9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Parable of the Lost Son
11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons.12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. ’22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house,26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on.27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him,29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
What’s your reaction to someone who says that
they have “finally come to their senses”?
CURRENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please pray for Mike and Sandy Brommer as they spread the Lord’s Seed and witness to His glory while on the road today. Please pray also that the Lord will lead him to Kingdom-profitable loads to carry, and that He grants them safe passage today from
THANK YOU FOR PRAYING FOR PASTOR BOB ALLMANN
Pastor Bob is doing so well that he gave his testimony about his accident and road to recovery at St. Mark Lutheran Church in
Please continue to pray for Billy Hamburg, whose doctors found 5 tumors in his bladder. He had surgery June 29th and the biopsy results showed a cancerous condition. He will be undergoing chemo & radiation treatments and will need the Lord’s Hand to overcome his anxiety as well as the cancer.
Please pray for Steve Doerner, brother of Pastor Ed, who suffered a severe heart attack yesterday (Monday). He is unconscious and in critical condition. Pray for God’s will to be done, for the extended Doerner family, and especially that God would draw Steve closer through this. --Pastor John
Please lift before the Lord our friend, Teri, who is facing an extremely large personal challenge. Pray that she will seek Jesus’ Face and strength, and the power found in strong Christian relationships, before it is too late for her to do so. Thank you, George and Sidney
What’s your reaction to someone who says
that they have “finally come to their senses”?
It was hard for the older brother to accept his younger brother when he returned, and it is just as difficult to accept "younger brothers" today. People who repent after leading notoriously sinful lives are often held in suspicion; churches are sometimes unwilling to admit them to membership. Instead, we should rejoice like the angels in heaven when an unbeliever repents and turns to God. Like the father, accept repentant sinners wholeheartedly and give them the support and encouragement that they need to grow in Christ.
—Life Application Bible Notes
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